Blood Stained Moon
by DarkTragedi
Summary: “Tell me konoichi, do you want power?” He asked,deep blue eyes watching her intently. "a mission in hidden grass?" "Akatsuki! watch out!" this cant be happening to me..im not..i cant be... I suck at summaries so just read plz. pairing itasaku prol


Hey there! this just so happens to me my first more-than-one-chapter fanfic! so i hope you like it,

and this goes for this chapter and every other one in this story:

I do not own naruto! and i never ever will. -sigh-

Sakura, ino, naruto and the rest are all around 18 in this

and kakashi is 32 i believe..

hope you like this!

* * *

"_You've been through a lot haven't you, Sakura?__That's your name is it not?"_

_"Don't talk you'll only injure yourself further…" Sakura commented as she tried to concentrate on the healing__of the injured shinobi._

_"Heh. It must take a lot of strength to go through such things as those, and still be able to come back with a smile on your face." He said despite the wounds he had.__** "**__Even if it isn't a real one,"_

_She narrowed her eyes at his comment and shook her head in an attempt to rid herself of the wet bangs plastered to her pale face.__"Thanks, but I'm afraid I'm no where near as strong as I might seem." She laughed sarcastically as she continued to work on the healing of the wounded Kusa ANBU. He smirked through the rain, his slightly pointed teeth glistening with blood and water._

"Tsunade-sama, you wanted to see me?" The rosette haired konoichi asked as she walked through the open door.

"Sakura, It's good to see you," she greeted, her lips twitched upward in a smile before her face took on a more serious look.** "**I'm sending you and Ino on a B level mission in Kusa. They have asked us to provide them with a few medics. Their hospital exploded, they are unsure as to the cause of this explosion, but they lost quite a few of their Medic-nins. You and Ino are all I can spare, and you're just as good as a group of ten medics on your own," she smirked. "I did train you after all," Sakura rolled her eyes as her master conspicuously flattered herself. "You will be taking Naruto and Kakashi along too, just in case." Tsunade said as she gave Sakura a scroll containing the details of the assignment.

"When are we supposed to be leaving Tsunade-sama?" Sakura questioned, twirling the thin scroll in her scarred but slender fingers.

"Tomorrow morning, so get out of here, go home and pack." The Hokage ordered.

"Hai, Tsunade-sama," Sakura nodded to her leader and turned to exit the Hokage's office, feet padding softly on the oak floors.

"Oh, and Sakura," she paused and rested her chin on her folded hands.

She stopped and rotated herself to face the elderly blonde-haired woman. "Yes?" she asked.

"Be careful." Tsunade looked up at her apprentice, a hint of worry lacing her voice and her mahogany gaze as she spoke.

"Don't worry, I will be." Sakura smiled reassuringly. She nodded her head one more time and stepped out of the round room.

"_Tell me konoichi, do you want power?" He asked her, his deep blue eyes watching her intently. Her Jade gaze clashed harshly with his blue one._

"_Power corrupts, it turns friends into enemies, and it breaks bonds. Why would I want something like that?" She asked jade eyes narrowing as a picture of a certain raven-haired male entered her mind. "Only fools want power, and they always end up paying dearly for their foolishness, in one way or another."_

_He smiled knowingly at her. "Those who refuse power are the ones who deserve it the most…"_

Sakura quickly grabbed her pack and headed out the door of her apartment to meet her long time friend and rival. She had packed a few sets of clothing, whether or not it would be enough for her mission, she did not know. Most assignments took much longer then originally thought. As such, she'd stopped trying to bring enough.

"Hurry up forehead!" Ino tapped her foot impatiently where she stood outside Sakura's apartment complex.

"Relax Ino pig, I'm coming." She stated as she exited the front doors.

Both girls walked down the street, planning to meet up with Naruto and Kakashi at the front gates to Konoha. Sakura looked around, taking in the quiet and mostly still asleep sights of the shinobi village of Konoha. It was very early in the morning, and the sun had just barely risen. The world was at peace, or so it seemed, in the innocent state of the village as most of its occupants were still asleep.

"So, do you have any idea why Kusagakure needs medics all of a sudden?" Ino asked, trying to start a casual conversation and break the awkward silence that had formed between them as more and more time passed.

"A while back, I heard Kakashi and Yamato talking about a mission they had recently been on." She failed to mention where she overheard this conversation, as she had begun drinking a bit, and Ino would surely scold her for hanging around in a bar and waging war on her liver. A Medic-nin of all people should know better, right? "Kusa was, is," she corrected herself, "Having problems at its border with rain, not to mention someone has blown up their hospital. My guess is that Kusa is still having some problems, so we might be fighting as well." Sakura explained, just at that moment, and then she realized something, something that made Tsunade's warning seem much more worthwhile. "We'll need to be extremely cautious too, because Ame…Ame is where the Akatsuki is."

Ino's eyes widened for a fraction of a second at this statement. This problem was certainly unprecedented. "You don't think they would…?" She trailed off, her eyebrows knotted in anger and sadness as her eyes reverted to the ground.

"Sakura-chaaan! Ino!" A hyperactive Naruto came running towards the two konoichi, cutting Ino off in the middle of her sentence. He was coming from the direction of the Hyuuga's home.

"Hey Naruto," Ino glared playfully at the golden blond teenager.

"Hi Naruto-kun" Sakura greeted with a fake smile that reminded them all of Sai.

"Why are you so happy this early in the morning?" Ino asked, smiling slightly. "Don't you usually stay up late doing something stupid and perverted and then sleep in until noon?" she joked.

"Oh...uh, I was saying bye to Hinata-chan" He grinned at Ino, a pink tint on his lips, no doubt some of Hinata's strawberry lip-gloss, an accessory that Ino had talked her into wearing.

Sakura laughed rolling her eyes, "I can't imagine that her father, not to mention Neji, were too happy about that."

"I don't think so either, I think Neji was about to chase me out, I've never been so glad to see someone have a broken foot." He rubbed the back of his neck.

The trio arrived at the gates to discover that Kakashi had not arrived yet, no surprise there.

"So what do you think his excuse will be this time?" Naruto asked. It had been and half an hour already and Kakashi was still missing in action. It had become common practice among the members of Team Kakashi, as well as their tag-alongs, to make bets the excuse he would use. However, it was only on special occasions that they would bet money.

"I bet he'll say he was lost on the road of life." Sakura said, rather unenthusiastically, mimicking the silver-haired man himself.

"I'm gonna guess he was helping someone with groceries." Ino said, flipping her ponytail over her shoulder.

"Hmm, I was thinking that maybea black cat crossed his path." Naruto shrugged.

"Actually Naruto,**" **Said ninja froze, suddenly feeling a presence behind him. "Believe it or not, I just forgot to set my alarm this morning." Kakashi said giving them his signature eye-crease smile. "So I assume that you're all ready to leave?"

Naruto let out a breathe he didn't know he was holding and fell over when Kakashi 'accidentally' whacked him in the back of the head with his book before putting it in his weapons pouch.

So the small group headed out into the forest, sunshine peeking through the lush green trees at last, casting long, dark shadows shadowy figures everywhere.

Kakashi had said that it would probably take them at least a day to reach their destination get there. As such, they would most likely be traveling late into the night, much to Naruto's dismay.

Sakura let out a frustrated sigh as they continued on, Naruto and Ino were arguing about Naruto's relationship with Hinata, while Kakashi was reading his favorite edition of Icha Icha Paradise. Well at least now she had some time to think, lately everything had been so chaotic, particularly since her last mission.

She had been with Kakashi, Neji and Shikamaru at the time. It had originally been a mission that was meant to research Sasuke and his team. Due to a small mistake made by Sakura, a small whimper as she heard his female teammate utter the words that she had used all of her courage to say to him when she was twelve. They had actually gotten a bit too close, and it turned into a hopeless retrieval mission, which once again failed. They had all received a few injuries, and Neji had shattered his foot. Except what made this time different, was that Sakura was about ready to give up. She had known for such a long time that he wouldn't come back, but she had always refused to believe it.

Sakura's eyes flickered over to Naruto, her mindremembering the promise he had made to her, which now seemed like it would never be kept.

_Promises are meant to be broken, ne? _Inner Sakura sneered.

She laughed inwardly. Even if Sasuke were to come back, she knew that no matter what, things would never be the same. She had gotten over him, but the feeling of betrayal would never go away, it would remain like a scar on her heart, a scar that even she, Haruno Sakura, couldn't heal.

"Oi, Sakura," Naruto waved a hand in front of her face, breaking her out of her thoughts. She couldn't say she was annoyed with him for it, as they were depressing her.

"Yeah Naruto, what is it?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"We're stopping to eat, is that okay with you?" He asked, a hint of worry accompanying his voice.

"Hai, its fine, but why are you asking me?" she asked quizzically.

"Tsunade baa-chan didn't tell you? You're in charge as long as we're on this mission, seeing as your ANBU and all." Naruto said, pouting a bit jealous at the last part.

Sakura laughed as she jumped down from her spot in the trees that she and her teenage counterparts had been moving through to the ground next to Kakashi, "Aww, Naruto are you still mad that I made ANBU and you didn't? I told you already, it's only because they needed a few medic-nins that I even applied for a spot." She smirked playfully at him and ruffled his hair. He swatted at her hand giving her a halfhearted glare.

"What? Forehead girl made ANBU?" Ino asked seeming surprised. She sighed and plopped herself in the grass next to Sakura, "And I thought that Sakura was always disappearing because she had finally gotten herself a boyfriend." Ino shook her head in disappointment.

"Ino! Just because I don't have a boyfriend doesn't mean I need one!" Sakura retaliated, glaring kunais at her 'friend'. The issue of Sakura's non-existent love life was a constant subject in her conversations with Ino.

Ino just looked back at Sakura with a disbelieving gleam in her paled sapphire eyes. "Sure forehead, suuure."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Ino, I do not need a boyfriend I don't even think I have time for one anyway, I just made ANBU, remember? With all of those assignments, not to mention all the shifts that Tsunade has me pulling at the Hospital on top of that, dating is the last thing on my mind. You need to stop messing with my personal life. Remember when you tried to set me up on that date?"The flamboyant blonde had tried more then once to set her up. However, none were quite as memorable as the one she had in mind. Naruto snickered silently to himself as he sat in front of them listening to the ridiculous squabble that was taking place between the two of them. Kakashi had gone off to answer nature's call.

Ino grinned back at her. "Yeah, of course I remember. When I got Genma to ask you, right? I still don't understand why you got so mad at me." She stated innocently.

Kakashi sighed and walked over towards the two girls, (and Naruto). "Sakura**," **he began, sounding concerned as he sat down cross-legged under the shade of the trees**. "**You didn't, did you?" He asked.

"No I definitely did _not_, I mean I'm friends with him and all but I don't really know if I'd want to be _with_ him or anything," Sakura said, sounding a little perturbed by the whole idea. She removed her large bag and setting it down in front of her, rolling her shoulders back and cracking her spine.

Kakashi sighed, "Sakura, I'm telling you this because I've known Genma for a very**, **_very_ long time, trust me on this**, **you don't want to."

Sakura shook her head, rummaging through her pack for some form of food. "Okay, can we please _stop_ talking about my personal life now?" She asked, feeling a little uncomfortable talking about her failure at a social life. The others followed her lead and they all located something appetizing in their bags, shoving it into their mouths at shinobi speeds.

Kakashi stood up, "Sakura, you might want to put on your anbu uniform when we get closer to the border of Kusa and Ame. If they see you're ANBU they'll know why we're there and who we are just a bit faster."

Sakura nodded and slung her pack over her muscled shoulders, "I will,"

"All right, well I say we should head out now, we can probably make it to the little village about 15 miles from the border by night fall. We can rent some rooms for the night and then leave again in the early morning,"

There was a collective nod from the group and they launched themselves into the air.

"Okay,**" **Narutostarted, "I'm bored now, can someone pleaseee talk?" he whined.

Sakura let out a quiet, saddened sigh, for the past hour they had been traveling in almost complete silence, and she had been reveling in it.

"There's nothing to talk about baka." Said Ino, a little irate from the need for sleep she was feeling at that point in time.

"Well Kakashi-_Sensei_ could tell us all about his last mission toKusa. Seeing as he's been on the same page of his book for maybe a half hour now." Sakura suggested**. **If she was going to have to talk, she might as well entertain herself while doing so. Her smirk was a triumphant one when Kakashi turned around to glare at her.

"Gomen, Sakura-_chan_ but I don't think I can tell you all seeing as it was an A rank _classified_ mission."

"Well I think Tsunade-sama would understand, because technically it has to do with, and may be useful to the mission that we're on right now." Sakura argued knowingly.

"Yeah, come on Kakashi Sensei!" Naruto pleaded.

Kakashi sighed, finally giving in to his former students. He'd be damned if he was going to listen to Naruto whine for an hour. "Well what would you all like to know, hmm?"

"What were you supposed to be doing there? And were there any interesting or suspicious shinobi that you met?" Ino asked.

"Yamato, Genma, Raidou and I were supposed to be going into Kusa to renew a treaty we had set up with them years back. It was on our way out thatwe decided to see the conditions at the border**. **It didn't take long for us to see that they weren't that well off**. **It's the reason why we're all on this mission in the first place.**" **He paused for a moment. "Most of the shinobi that I met there probably won't be posted in that location now, as they tend to switch out every few months or so, although there were two or three groups that had agreed to stay at the border for as long as necessary. The one group I remember was a squad of four, two male and two female shinobi, all of ANBU rank. Actually, one of the members of their squad…I believe his name was Chiyako Sotaro, was helping to lead their forces at the border. He was very well versed in the ways of the shinobi. I think he was only twenty or so. The rest of his group was helping out as well." Kakashi ended his little speechwith an unexcited sounding sigh. He was bored with their conversation, or rather his speech. "Over all they seemed to have it fairly well under control."

"So we probably won't have many patients to treat then." Sakura said, drifting somewhat into her own little world.

"This is gonna be another boring mission then." Naruto let out an exasperated, disappointed sigh.

Once again, the squad's discussion dissipated into silence.

It didn't take long for the foursome to reach their destination. "This is the ryokan that I stayed at on my last assignment. The owner is a retired shinobi himself so he's used to having shinobi stay for a night or two." Kakashi said as he gestured to the small inn that they had stopped their feet in front of.

The inn was very small, only about two floors high. The outside was painted white and there was a dark wooden frame around the doors and windows. The roof also appeared to be wooden. There was a small area in the front with stones around it. It appeared to be a half-hearted attempt at forming a garden, although there were more weeds than there were actual flowers. Around the small inn were a few old trees, branches twisting in many directions and casting a shadow on parts of the inn. There were also three sakura trees with their pink petals littering the ground and the steps up to the entrance of the inn.

Sakura slid open the shoji screen door and along with the others walked over to the small desk in the corner. She peeked behind it to see an older man sleeping in a chair with his feet up on said desk.

"Sumimasen…" Sakura whispered as she tapped the desk lightly.

The man opened his eyes suddenly, realizing that more people had entered his establishment.

"Ah! Welcome! I'm very sorry; we don't get many people around this time of night. Although I see that you are shinobi, and from Konoha no less,"he stated noticing the symbol on their headbands. "I suppose a late night arrival shouldn't be a surprise, ne?"

"Eh," Sakura attempted a smile, "Well…err, we need two rooms and just for tonight-" "We'd appreciate it if you'd not mention our being shinobi as well." Kakashi added, cutting off the rosette haired kunoichi.

The man nodded and retrieved two sets of keys to hand to Sakura. "Your rooms are on the second floor, numbers two and three."

"Arigatou," Sakura noddedto him and then headed towards the stairs. Right near the steps, she spotted an open shoji screen door that lead to a small area for eating and talking. Sakura tilted her head to the side to get a view of the inside room. Immediately she turned away and headed up the old wooden stairs. When she had entered the room with her eyes, two different sets of eyes had been looking right back at her suspiciously.

Sakura tossed a key to Naruto, who had raced up the stairs when she'd stopped for a brief moment. "You and Kakashi will be in this room and Ino and I are gonna be in this one." She said, pointing to the individual doors as she spoke.

Ino took the other key from Sakura and unlocked the doorto room two, "See you guys in the morning! Come on Sakura." Ino motioned for her to follow.

"Oi! Didn't you see that other room downstairs they had a place where we could eat?" Naruto called to them**,** pointing back towards the stairs.

"You and Kakashi can go if you want…I'm not really hungry. Good night." Sakura hurriedly walked towards hers and Ino's room.

Sakura yawned as she flopped down onto her bed. Today had been tiring, having to travel so fast in order to make it to her current location by nightfall. She looked over at Ino who had done the exact same thingas she herself. "So forehead, how much do you think we're going to have to actuallydo on this mission?" Ino asked flipping over to face her jade-eyed friend.

"I have no idea, it doesn't seem like the situation there is too horrible." Sakura shrugged.After a second of talking with Ino, she stood up from the bed and unzipped her pack to pull out some clothes.

"I hope we have time to look around and have a bit of fun." Ino smiled deviously as she took out a nightshirt and shorts. She then proceeded topull out shampoo and soap. Sakura rolled her eyes, some things never change, such as her friend's habit of wanting to party, sometimes even primarily, when they were on extremely important assignments where the safety of their country might be at stake…

"Well I'm gonna go wash my hair and stuff. I'll be back in a few!" the blonde nodded to her friend, taking her pile of shower related items with her to the bathroom.

"Mmhmm…" Sakura replied, rummaging through her bag.

"That was them wasn't it?" a man in a black cloak asked as he took a sip of his tea.

"Hai, they've finally shown up, now we can finish this and report back to Chiya-"

"Don't mention his name around here baka." The man sitting adjacent to him hissed.

"Tch, whatever, we should get going soon, if we're going to follow them tomorrow…"

Both men stood up, black cloaks swishing around their legs as they walked out of the main room of the inn and down the hall.

Once both of them were inside the lobby one of them looked outside again and closed the door.

"Well?" both men turned around, hearing the gravelly voice of another person in their midst.

"Hai, it is them." One of the cloaked men nodded his head as the person stepped out of the shadows revealing his somewhat see-through form.

"Good, you know what to do. I'll be going now.**" **He shot them each a glare.** "**Don't mess up." The illusion of the man slowly faded away, leaving the other two alone to plot.

"Sakura, what are you looking for in that bag? You were elbow deep in it when I went in to the bathroom and you're knee deep in it now…" Ino asked. She had just finished her lengthy shower. No surprise really, with the amount of hair she had. "Haven't you gone through all your stuff already?"

Sakura looked up at Ino, "No, I was looking for my bookearlier which I found and was reading for a minute or two. _Now_ I'm looking for pjs." She pulled out a light pink shirt and some gray shorts.

"Oh, well I guessI'm kinda tired." Ino said, yawning right asshe finishedas if to confirm her statement.

Sakura nodded pulling off her shirt, "Yeah I'm tired myself…"

Sakura and Ino both frownedirritably when they heard the sound of a shoji door opening and looked around to see where it had come from.

Sakura yelped when she saw a shock of slivery gray hair near a doorway across from their beds.

"Kakashi! What the hell you old pervert!" she yelled and quickly pulled her nightshirt over her head.

Kakashi chuckled, "Sorry, I had seen this door and I was wondering were it went. And Sakura, I'm not old, im barely even thirty one."

"Yeah, whatever, just get out of here." She said glaring at him.

He smirked back at both of them. "Good night Sakura, Ino."

"Get out!" both girls yelled. Sakura threw her other shirt at him just as he closed the door.

"How do you deal with that all the time?" Ino asked, her eyebrow twitching slightly.

"I have no idea…"

Sakura quietly crawled into her bed, Ino had fallen asleep a while ago, but Sakura had stayed up to read a few more pages of her book. What was she supposed to do? It was addicting.

She yawned as she laid her head down against the cool pillow. Tomorrow they would have to be up early so it would be a good idea to try to sleep now, lest she sleep walk all through the next day. She rolled over onto her the other side, facing away from the light that was seeping through the crack in the door. Sakura closed her eyes, letting sleep consume her fatigued body, even though her mind would soon be plagued by a very unsettling dream.

_It was a dark and ominous night where Sakura had found herself. She was in a field of extremely tall, dew stricken grass. Although she couldn't exactly remember how she had gotten there, she was sure that this was somewhere close to Kusa. Quietly, she made her way through the deep sea of dark green plants, each blade brushed against her skin like icy cold finger. The smell of fresh rain was still present in the air, and a fog was slowly starting to creep into the field. Looking up, Sakura noticed the moon, hanging low in the sky, its reflective surface half-hidden by wispy clouds__**. **__Its faint light created sinister shadows all around. Sakura felt a shiver ripple through her body, it seemed almost like someone was watching her from off in the distance, eyes burning into her. Shaking her head as if to get rid of the eerie feeling, she continued onwards, trying desperately to find a way out of the outlandish place. Sakura took a step back when she felt her foot sink into a pool of liquid ice. Her eyes widened as she looked at the surface of the pool, and saw her appearance._

'_This isn't possible…'_

_She touched the surface with her foot again, disturbing the surface and sending ripples over it, obscuring her reflection. Once the ripples stopped, she bent closer, still unable to believe just what it was__she was seeing. In the surface of the puddle was a mouse, but this was no ordinary mouse, it was a delicate shade of pink, frighteningly similar to Sakura's hair._

_'I'm a…?'_

_She couldn't finish the thought it was too strange, too unbelievable. How had she become a…a mouse? This wasn't possible! And where was she!? It was at this moment, still looking into the reflection that she noticed a black blotch in one corner of the puddle, and…it seemed to be getting bigger…_

_Then she heard it, the ear-piercing screech that rang__from above her. She turned her head to the side to look up and see what had made the striking sound. Piercing, blood red eyes stared back at her. She yelped taking in the pitch black, ragged shape where the pair of eyes resided, it was a bat!_

_Immediately Sakura started to run from this hunter of the night, but stopped._

_Why would a bat be after her?_

_'Oh no! I'm a mouse!' she remembered taking off again. However__**, **__despite her best efforts, it was too late._

_She heard the beating of the wings, and the furious thumping of her own heart._

_Then everything in her world seemed too suddenly stop, until she felt the pain, and screamed._

_Her neck, it had bitten her neck! She writhed on the ground in unimaginable pain, unable to do anything as the bat swooped down__a second time, this time picking her up with its talons. Taking her up higher and higher into the night sky the creature abruptly dropped her into complete darkness, still screaming as she went. Just as she was about to hit the ground, she landed on a crimson red cloud. A sharp pain coursed through her frail body._

Sakura gasped, shooting up from her position on the floor. She winced as a harsh pain erupted from her shoulder.

Sakura stood up shakily and made her way over to the window. Taking in her dimly lit surroundings, she noted that it was probably around two in the morning.

As she ran a hand through her tousled hair, she looked through the window and down to the garden down below. She watched the moon reflecting of the shimmering surface of the koi pond located at its center.

As a small dark shadow swooped over the pond, Sakura moved away from the window slightly. She watched the small shadowy figure as it came towards the window and perched on the sill. Sakura approached again slowly, laughing at the irony. The shadow that had caused her to jump, it was a bat. She watched it, being a little more cautious then necessary, smiling as it tilted its head to the side as if curious. Suddenly this creature of the night took off, swooping down towards the pond, streaking swiftly across the reflection of the moon and then out of sight.

Sakura pressed her palm against the cool glass of the window, wondering what had frightened the little creature. With a frustrated sigh, she turned away from the glass pane, ready to crawl back into her warm bed sheets and sleep. She froze when she saw a dark figure over by the wall opposite her bed.

"Sakura?" the figure asked in a hushed, masculine voice that Sakura immediately recognized to be Kakashi. She let down her guard slightly as she walked towards him.

"What are you doing in this room Kakashi?" She asked.

"I heard something that woke me up, and it came from your room. I wanted to make sure you and Ino were all right," Kakashi explained as he watched her with his one open eye.

"Oh..." Sakura turned away from him, and started to walk over towards her bed again. "I...it was nothing Kakashi..."

"Sakura, tell me." He said, waiting for her to speak again.

Sakura shook her head, her jade eyes drooping more and more with exhaustion every second.

"I'll tell you tomorrow." Sakura answered with a yawn. Kakashi nodded, and left without another word, closing the shoji screen door behind him. Though he was worried he knew that when Sakura decided on something, she wouldn't change her mind, and so there was no use in prying. Sakura rubbed her eyes and crawled back into bed, once again attempting to fall asleep, though she knew that they would be getting up in only three short hours.

Sakura yawned as she watched Naruto and Kakashi emerge from their room, Naruto looking energetic and renewed, but in contrast, Kakashi still looked quite tired, but then he wasn't exactly a morning person anyway.

She stood ready to go, clad in her ANBU uniform, which consisted of her tight black tank top, white vest, and black shorts. She now had on her longer pair of black gloves and white arm guards on as well.

"All right, I intend for us to make it to Yorutensai early, by at least eight. It's not very far from here, so we should be able to make good time if we don't stop." Sakurastated firmly. She was now in full mission leader mode.

"Can we please eat breakfast first?" Ino whined as Naruto nodded in agreement.

Sakura laughed, "Sure, Ino." She ruffled Naruto's hair as she walked by him. "Come on. Let's go to the café that's around the corner." Sakura pulled Naruto down the stairs by the front of his shirt as the others followed behind.

"Wmmf! Dif foo fef mmaf!" Naruto tired to speak as he wolfed down his ramen, his unhealthy, but delicious, breakfast food of choice.

Ino rolled her eyes and smacked Naruto on the back of the head. "Naruto no baka, Swallow your food first, don't try and talk with ramen hanging out of your mouth! You're being just like Chouji."

Naruto swallowed the rest of his ramen and leaned over the table.

"Did you guys feel that? I could have swornI just felt a huge chakra flare." He asked quietly.

Kakashi nodded in agreement. "I felt it too. We should probably leave. We don't need to attract attention to this place, or ourselves, for that matter." Kakashi suggested as Sakura stifled a laugh.

"As if we could possibly attract any more attention, with my hair, Naruto's fluorescent orange shirts, Ino's obsession with men and your dirty habit of reading smut in public…" she looked back at Kakashi with a cold glare. "You're right though, Kakashi, we're leaving now. Naruto, create six shadow clones, have one of them transform into me, two into Ino, and one into Kakashi. The other two will remain in their original forms." She began, whispering slightly to keep anyone outside of their small circle from hearing. "One clone of me and one of you will head out with Kakashi and Ino, taking a wide route as the real you and me take the original route with the clones of Kakashi and Ino. Yours and Ino's second clones will stay here for another 20 minutes after we leave. This way if anyone attacks either group, or if we run into any other ninja, we'll know of it ahead of time and have a chance to fight back. Also, Ino and Kakashi, if no one is attacked, then Naruto and I will double back and meet up with you."

The squad nodded in agreement, seeming a bit surprised at how quickly she was able to come up with such a detailed plan. Kakashi smiled beneath his mask, Sakura was starting to become more like a true ANBU, and in such a short amount of time too. She stood up suddenly, walking towards the small café's exit. "Come on, I'm still determined to make it there early."

"Oi, Sakura!" Naruto called after her. She turned around and raised an eyebrow at him. He laughed nervously, feeling a tad idiotic. "Could you maybe explain that again, but simpler this time?"

They all groaned and rolled their eyes.

Sakura pushed off another tree branch, watching the orange blur that was Naruto race through the thick canopy ahead of her. As they both continued on Sakura could feel her heart pumping and adrenalin rush through her veins as the duo raced towards Kakashi and Ino's location.

It had only been about two minutes after they had left, and already one of Naruto's shadow clones had been hit. From the destroyed clone's experience, Naruto had learned that the two attacking ninja were both missing Nin from Kusagakure, and seemed to be pretty powerful at that.

Sakura watched up ahead as Naruto flipped in mid air and twisted around, giving her a thumbs up, signaling that they were extremely close now. Sakura quickly cloaked her chakra and waited for Naruto to do the same. Instead, he let out a massive burst of chakra prior to cloaking himself, it was a dangerous move, but Sakura had witnessed him do this before**, **and knew what he was planning. As the two approached the fight Naruto veered off to the right, and Sakura to the left, they planned to each come in form opposite sides. Sakura started a mental countdown as she watched the ongoing battle.

'_Five_' Kakashi was closest to her position.

'_Four_' he seemed to be doing well fighting against the lithe ex Kusa shinobi.

'_Three_' jade eyes turned to see how Ino was holding up, she had her opponent in an illusion currently, just in time.

'_Two_' Sakura flexed her muscles and a faint green glow appeared around her hands.

'_One_'

'_Now!' _

Sakura sprang out of her cover in sequence with Naruto. The commotion caused both of the enemy shinobi to briefly remove their eyes from their current targets.

She watched as Kakashi twisted away from his opponent, giving her a chance to get in a quick strike. She landed momentarily, pushed off of a branch, and flipped over the unsuspecting shinobi, quickly unsheathing her ANBU katana and landing once again.

As the rogue shinobi turned to face Sakura, Kakashi took the opportunity to pull several kunai out of his weapons pouch. He lunged to the side, throwing them skillfully at the shinobi. He turned his head to the side just in time to catch sight of the kunai and block two, while the other just barely sliced his forearm.

"Bastard," The male shinobi glared harshly at both of them with eyes that almost glowed with hatred. He spotted the headbands tied proudly on the foreheads of his two opponents. "Konoha, I've been waiting a long time to get my hands on one of you prideful sons of bitches," he licked his lips. "Never thought my first catch would look so, tasty…"

The rosette haired teenager lunged, and thrust her katana forward in an attempt to slice right through him. He maneuvered himself out of the range of the thin blade, also managing to slice sakura in the side with a hidden kunai. She cursed silently and followed him with her steel, and he ripped a shuriken from his thigh and blocked her capably. "So, I see you aren't as pathetic as you look," she commented off handedly. He narrowed his eyes

Kakashi took advantage of his distraction with his former student and jumped from where his feet had been stationed. He wrapped his fingers around the branch on which the rogue shinobi was standing, and swung himself underneath it, coming up behind his enemy and crashing into his back with an outstretched foot.

"Ah!" he yelped as he fell down a few levels in the canopy. After securing a new position on a tree branch, he began moving his hands in specific patterns.

Kakashi launched himself at the rogue, uncovered Sharingan blazing. "Genjustu, hmm? Not very original if you ask me," the surprised rogue barely managed to avoid being grazed by the tightly clenched fist that was coming in his direction. The wooden limb was shattered on impact.

"You're, Hatake Kakashi, the Copy Ninja," he swallowed hard, realizing very quickly, that he was in deep shit.

"Well, I hate to say it Naruto," Ino started, struggling to hold her illusion in place. "But I'm, glad to see you," her hands shook as she held them in a single seal.

"Aw, Ino, you're embarrassing me," he joked as he released his remaining three Kage Bushiin.

"Stop being an idiot and give me a hand would you!" she growled as the illusion she had been feeding to her opponent was shattered. He stumbled back a few steps, rustling up dirt clouds. He was bewildered when a sapphire-eyed shinobi slammed an elbow into his shoulder and forcing him into the ground.

Naruto stood up tall and triumphant. "Well that was ea-" he was unable to finish as his feet were swept out from under him. The slightly older ninja lifted his kunai-armed hand high above his head and swiftly plunged it down. Naruto sucked in his gut and stopped the blade with his hands, just saving himself from implement. "Mother-!" he groaned through clenched teeth as the point of the metal sliced deeper into his bare hands, grinding against the bones in his fingers. The crimson-coated metal cut through his jacket and into his abdomen as the owner of the steel used all of his strength to kill the opponent at hand.

"Idiot!" Ino launched herself at the shinobi that held Naruto at bay and the two of them tumbled into the surrounding dust. The Konoha kunoichi narrowed her eyes at her sparring partner, trying to wrestle the bloodied kunai from his hand.

Naruto rolled over onto his hands and knees. He flinched when the sharp grains of soil invaded the open wounds on his hands. He mentally kicked himself for letting his guard down, but it was something he'd have to worry about later, Ino needed his help.

Kakashi growled low in his throat when he came into contact with an old oak, and fell onto the branch of its descendent. He'd been turned around and stealing a glance at Naruto's situation when the rogue had hit him.

"Looks like Hatake Kakashi's Sharingan isn't all it's cracked up to be," he spat a mouth full of blood from his mouth. Sakura slashed his bicep.

"Don't get cocky," she warned, stabbing his calf clean through.

"Augh!" he hollered, falling back into the trunk of the tree.

"Ha!" Ino laughed as she kicked her opponent off of her and did a back wards summersault to return to a standing position, sporting a few cuts on her bare stomach.

He quickly stood as well. Forming a perfect triangle, Naruto, Ino, and the nameless rogue stood, glaring at each other, waiting for the other to strike.

"Who's coming first," the brunette raised an eyebrow. "The suspense is killing me,"

"I'm pretty sure that's my job!" Naruto rushed towards him with his fist pulled back, ignoring the sharp pains in his fingers, ready to crush the face of his adversary.

"A play on words, clever," with a single hand, he deflected the punch and squatteddown, striking the kneecap of the younger blond with the heel of his hand, that was immediately followed by a satisfying crack. He smirked triumphantly at the scream of the disabled teenage ninja.

Naruto fell backwards on the ground, clutching his shattered knee with his butchered hands, bleeding heavily and grinding his teeth to hold in his agonizing screams, he writhed in pain.

"Naruto!" Ino screeched horrified that he'd been stopped so quickly. This foe was stronger then they had given him credit.

"Huh-AH!" Sakura yelped as a shuriken lodged its self in her cheek. She quickly ripped it out and healed the wound as best she could. It would leave a small scar as a reminder that at no time should she let her guard down, even when Naruto was in trouble.

Kakashi aimed and tossed a kunai with a deadly exploding tag downward at the head of their adversary. The rogue, kicking off with his good leg, managed to escape the full magnitude of the explosion. Debris from the once living tree sliced into him, leaving splinters in wounds that would be easily infected.

"You jackass!" Ino used her chakra-enhanced fist to throw the rogue away from her injured counterpart. She placed her glowing hands onto Naruto's knee and started piecing the bone together.

"That hurts!" Naruto complained, his eyes remaining on her healing hands.

"Deal with it," she muttered, listening for the movement of the shinobi that had caused the damage to her friend.

"I've had enough of this," Sakura concentrated her chakra into her gloved hand and came down with intense force on her opponent, thrusting his disorientated body into the six foot branch of an oak. It severed his spine, killing him in an instant, as it continued to pass through him until his deadened form hit the trunk.

"Good job, Sakura," Kakashi praised her as he landed next to her. She held up a smoking fist.

Ino heard and felt him coming, but was given no time to react as he sent her flying back ten feet. She clutched her head as a sharp pain coursed through her nerves.

The last of the two ex-Kusa shinobi lifted a second kunai and made to deepen the original wound in Naruto's stomach. Kakashi caught sight of his movement and with light speed thrust him to the side. His world spun, and he shook his head, pulling his forehead protector over his left eye.

Sakura sheathed her ANBU issue katana on her back and rushed to Naruto's assistance. She quickly picked up where Ino had left off.

Assuming that the rogue was unconscious, Kakashi walked at a normal speed to tend to Ino. She stood, slowly and a bit dizzily.

The angry, disoriented shinobi on the ground, lifted his head from where he lay on his stomach, to see the squad completely unperturbed. This only fueled his hatred for them, the murderers of his older brother. He pushed himself off the ground.

Sakura had no time to respond as her katana was stolen by the remaining enemy and thrust into the abdomen of the blonde kunoichi, pinning her to a tree, where her eyes widened and her slim fingers grasped the blade. She fell unconscious before she could see Kakashi whirl around with a kunai, and returning the favor. The rogue died quickly, and Ino was not far behind him.

"Ino!" Naruto and Sakura called in unison.

With a lithe flip sakura landed in front of Ino's slowly dying form. There was no way she would lose another close friend. "Naruto," she barked, "I need you to keep Ino steady as I remove the blade, Kakashi, I need you to keep Ino's pulse in check as I heal." Both males nodded, doing exactly as Sakura ordered them.

"There's no way in going to let you die Ino." Sakura whispered as she firmly grasped the blade in her slender hands. "I'm starting to pull," she informed her two other comrades. Slowly Sakura pulled out the now chakra coated blade with her left hand, as with her right she pulled Ino's skin back together. Luckily, the blade had missed the konoichi's vital organs, which gave her a good chance of survival if she hadn't lost too much blood. Sakura narrowed her eyes in concentration she had managed to stop Ino's blood from flowing out of the wound more, now all that was left to do was heal the rest of her. Some of her muscle tissue had been severed, so that would take more time, and more of Sakura's precious healing chakra. She reconnected the tissues and then the final layer of skin, this would leave a nasty scar, far worse then it was now. Sakura ran her finger over the ugly scar, making it considerably less noticeable. Then she pressed her hand to Ino's abdomen again, the only thing left to do was check for internal bleeding, which wasn't very likely, seeing as Sakura had been extremely precise. "Lay her on the ground please Naruto." Sakura said calmly. Naruto slowly and gently laid Ino's unconscious form in front Sakura.

"Thank you Naruto." Sakura murmured as she knelt down in front of her friend. Sakura checked Ino's pulse, and then examined the blonde again, just as an assurance to herself that her friend wouldn't be leaving her anytime soon.

With a nod and a smile Sakura stood up, stumbling to the side slightly. Ino would be fine, but the procedure had taken more chakra than she had originally suspected, Ino had lost a vast amount of blood. "She's going to be fine, but someone needs to carry her the rest of the way." Sakura informed.

"But are _you_ okay?" Naruto asked.

"I'll be fine…" Sakura assured her friends, noticing the looks of concern that had settled on their faces.

She started to walk away, hoping that neither of them would notice what was wrong with her. _"You used too much chakra, now you can't heal yourself" Inner sakura informed, a small hint of panic in her tone._

"Sakura, you're bleeding." Kakashi stated, walking towards his former student.

Sakura turned, cursing inwardly. She had hoped he wouldn't notice the injury she had tried to keep secret. Friends were more important than healing her self at the moment.

The Konoichi shook her head, backing away from both shinobi.

"No, I'll be fine." She tried to tell them as black spots danced across her vision.

"Sakura!" Naruto yelled as she fell, with his arms currently occupied by Ino, there was nothing he could do. Kakashi stepped to the side to catch Sakura**.** Hethen looked back at Naruto.

"We need to get to Kusa now. Sakura needs a medic." Kakashi said, a serious tone in his voice. Naruto nodded in agreement, as they both took offwith the two unconscious medics in their arms.

"Sotaro**,** Look**!**" A Kusa ANBU with a frog mask motioned towards the clearing to the left of his post.

"What is it Kedo?" Sotaro, the Kusa anbu with a fox mask turned to look over in the direction his comrade was pointing.

"Well that's interesting…" Sotaro remarked. There seemed to be a small skirmish going on in the clearing a few miles away from their current resting spot.

"Yuuka, can you use your jutsu to see who we're currently looking at?" Sotaro asked pausing to glance back at her. She nodded, lifting her hawk mask.

Forming a few quick seals she closed her eyes and the opened them again,

"Ha Suru Joukei no Jutsu!" As her eyes opened the turned a shade of florescent green. "There's two missing nin from our village, and they're fighting against four Konoha shinobi, the medics we've requested and two others… looks like they're holding out pretty well." She informed them, pausing as her eyes widened.

"Looks like Kedo spotted this a bit late, we should leave now, or else we might have a Konoha shinobi's blood on our hands."

Yuuka released her jutsu, her eyes reverting to their normal shade of hazel.

In a swirl of leaves, another Kusa ANBU appeared in front of the trio.

This ANBU nodded to each of the three.

"Welcome back Natsuki." Yuuka said, smiling beneath her mask at her cousin.

"Good to be back, Yuuka. So you three were about to leave?" She questioned noticing their half-formed hand signs.

Sotaro pulled his mask back on. "Hai, our medics from Konoha are in a speck of trouble." He informed her. She nodded "Then we should get going." Each ANBU disappeared in a swirl of leaves or flower petals.

"Damn it, more missing nins?" Naruto groaned as he ran behind Kakashi. "We can't keep this up forever Kakashi-Sensei!" he protested shifting Ino nervously in his arms.

The copy ninja nodded in agreement, "I know Naruto, just be patient…"

Suddenly feeling a spike of chakra he frowned in confusion, something seemed familiar about the chakra he was feeling in the area now.

"Kakashi! Watch it!" Naruto yelled as a figure appeared in front of them**. **It didn't take more then a second before he was surrounded by five Naruto clones.

Catching a glimpse of pale white, realization dawned on Kakashi and he placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Wait Naruto, these are Kusa ANBU, not missing nin." He explained.

A sigh of relief escaped Naruto's lips as his clones disappeared with a cloud of smoke taking each of their places.

"The copy ninja and Uzumaki Naruto, what a surprise to find you two chased by Akatsuki, or should I say you four." The masked anbu said as his eyes flickered to Ino and then Sakura.

"Long time no see Hatake-san, I wouldn't suppose you remember who I am though." The ninja asked taking a few steps closer and then raising a hand.

"Kedo, Natsuki, Yuuka. You may approach." Three other Kusa ANBU appeared each around the Konoha ninjas.

Kakashi smiled his eye crease smile. "No I remember all right, how could I forget my surrogate ANBU team, especially with such a promising leader. Sotaro-kun"

Said ANBU took off his mask revealing pale, silvery green hair and shining golden eyes. He stood in front of Kakashi, watching the unconscious Sakura as blood seeped through her shirt.

His eyes followed the few drops that fell to the ground in front of them. "Let me heal her, she's losing blood and we might need the legendary Sannin's apprentice quicker than you would think." Sotaro offered holding out his slightly glowing hand.

Kakashi nodded gently setting the rosette haired konoichi down on the ground and watching as the Kusa ANBU knelt down in front of his former student.

Sotaro placed his hand over Sakura's side and began to heal her. His eyes traveled over the rest of the konoichi as if trying to memorize her every feature.

"Quite a beauty, aren't you…" He murmured quietly. Naruto bristled, sending a death glare in the direction of themint haired shinobi.

Sotaro inwardly smirked at the blond's reaction. "That's as much as I can do here," He said as he picked up Sakura carefully. "If you don't mind Hatake-san, I'd like to take Haruno-chan here back to the med station; she needs a tad bit more work and a good place to rest."

Kakashi nodded in agreement, "Go ahead her and Ino are the most important ones to this mission anyway."

"Kedo, take Yamanaka**-**san from Naruto and follow me please."

"Hai," His teammate answered taking Ino in his arms and then walking up to Sotaro. They both nodded to the other members of their team, Kakashi, and Naruto.

"We'll meet up again in a few minutes. Sorry about all of this." Kedo apologized and then both ANBU disappeared.

"Well..." Natsuki started as they all walked into the small shinobi outpost.

"Welcome to Yorutensai." Her cousin finished for her as the Konoha shinobi walked into the small outpost of the Village Hidden in the Grass.

* * *

Hello there! i hope you liked my first chapter! i'll try to update every week or so, but idk how well that will go seeing as i am quite the procrastinator. hehe.

Also reviews would be very much appreciated, flames will be.. well i like fire but not this kind lol, so please be nice to me? or is that too much to ask? and pairings shall be decided later but they shall involve akatsuki! so you have been warned!

and now im getting a bit too carried away so i'll be going now. And thankyou to my lovely beta Wicka! i could not survive without her! so thanks again Wicka-chan! now you have no excuse to drown me in chili! haha!

allrighty, time to be going now. Ja ne!


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